


Zinnia

by Flameroyalty



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Angst without a happy ending, Blood and Gore, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Flowers, Hanahaki AU, Hanahaki Disease, Heavy Angst, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt No Comfort, I can't express how much angst there is here, Keith (Voltron) Dies, Langst, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pidge barely gets to finish a sentence in this, Pining Lance (Voltron), Spoilers but people need to know, Vomiting, blood mention, pining lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 04:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flameroyalty/pseuds/Flameroyalty
Summary: Getting space sick was a whole new range of experiences. When Lance started coughing up flower petals after a mission and Coran had no ideas, they had to go to Pidge.





	Zinnia

The team had been to a lot of weird places during the war against the Galra. They’d seen some odd creatures and fallen victim to some interesting illnesses. There was the time Pidge couldn’t speak anything but something that kind of sounded like Spanish going backwards. Once the whole team lost and grew back all their hair in a single day. Getting space sick was a whole new range of experiences.

Usually Coran could provide some insight as to whatever was going on. One look and he could list exactly what it was, where it came from, what it was going to do, and if they could fix it. So, when Lance started coughing up flower petals after a mission with Keith and Shiro and Coran had no ideas, they had to go to Pidge.

She had made a hobby of collecting as much information to catalogue as possible from everywhere they visited. There was a good chance she had something filed away. It took a few hours but eventually something came up.

A few hours later; Lance was in his room, pulling petals from his mouth. They were showing up stuck to the insides of his cheeks and under his tongue. It didn’t hurt but they were definitely a pain. His door opened and in walked a Pidge, eyes glued to her screen.

“It’s called Hanahaki Disease.” Pidge said.

“Hello to you too.” he laughed.

“I’ve only ever seen it in stories back on Earth.” Pidge continued, ignoring Lance’s comment, “Must be something you caught out here. I’m still kind of confused though.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well because, it’s not even really a disease. It’s not contagious and it doesn’t spread like most diseases are. It usually happens to people who are dealing with one sided feelings. That’s not really something you can catch from a fellow alien. It’s something personal. Maybe you came into contact with something on a mission?”

“What kind of feeling?” He asked.

“Love? I thought that was obvious. Coming from you, it’s not surprising. You hit on everyone,” Pidge returned to her computer, presumably to continue researching.

Love? Sure, he liked a lot of people. He flirts with someone on almost every planet they visit. He also gets rejected by every one of them but that’s not the point. He has barely had an actual crush in years. He just thinks people are cute. Who did he suddenly fall for without realizing it?

“I don’t hit on you.”

“So we can already cross me off the list.” Pidge smiled and stood up, “I’m going to do some more research and see if there’s anything you could’ve encountered to trigger this. You do some thinking too. If you figure out _who’s_ causing this, we might be able to fix it quicker.”

“Thanks Pidge.”

“No problem.”

For the rest of the day, Lance paid very close attention to every interaction he had with the other members of the team. He knew that he could count out Pidge. She was like a little sister to him and he was pretty sure the problem wasn’t really platonic based. Not to mention the fact that his throat was fine around her.

It’s why he could cross of Hunk too. Sure, he made a move or two towards him, but they’ve been best friends forever. He was pretty sure that if he had any other feelings for Hunk, he would’ve realized it by now.

Allura was always a possibility. He’s been flirting with her from the moment they met. He caught up with her after dinner and gave her a few of his best lines. She gave him some sympathetic laughter, but he didn’t feel even a tickle in his throat.

Shiro was more of a mentor to Lance than anything. Yeah, you would have to be an idiot to deny Shiro was attractive. He was too much like a dad and leader to Lance for him to have any romantic interest in him. It would be weird.

He didn’t bother with Coran.

He was exhausted. They didn’t go on any missions today but tracking everyone down for this emotional rollercoaster took a toll on him. On his way back to his room, the feeling of something in his throat returned. He didn’t even reach his room. He had to start coughing in the hallway. It hadn’t come up at any other point today. It didn’t make sense. Why was he suddenly hunched over, and trying to hide it for the first time? It didn’t make any sense, the only other person in the castle was-

Lance heard a door open beside him. He saw a frustrated Keith glaring at him with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Can’t you do that in your room? I can’t think with you making so much noise. Your room is literally right there.” Keith said.

“Keith?”

“Yeah?” Keith raised an eyebrow, confused.

“Um, nothing. Sorry for the noise.” Lance stumbled. There was no way.

Keith gave him a small smile, “Are you okay? First the coughing, now you’re actually apologizing to me?”

Nope. Not happening. No way. This is not happening.

“Shut up Keith.”

Lance may have misheard due to being in an altered state, but he could’ve sworn he heard Keith actually laugh.

“Just make sure whatever you have doesn’t spread okay?”

Lance brought himself back to standing with his back against the wall, his chest still sore. He watched Keith walk back to his room and the door close behind him. Lance closes his eyes and tries to supress the coughing fit he feels coming.

“Oh Quiznak.”

* * *

 

Why did it have to be Keith? There was no way it was Keith. This isn’t how rivalries are supposed to work. Keith wasn’t even that cute! Why out of everyone, did it have to be stupid, loner, mullet having, impulsive, stubborn, reckless, hot headed, brave, witty, skilled Keith?

Okay maybe he liked Keith. Really liked him. When did that happen? How did it happen? Without him noticing? Were Keith’s eyes always that weird combination of blue and grey?

“Keith, huh?” Pidge interrupted Lance’s thought. Lance jumped at the presence. It was like she showed up out of nowhere.

He turned to her but didn’t make eye contact, “What? No? Keith? No. No way.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing look, “You stared at him eating for the past fifteen minutes and haven’t moved since he left.”

Lance kept position, but glanced at his still full plate and a completely empty table, “Is it that obvious?”

“After you _secretly_ watched him train for 2 hours earlier? Yeah.” Pidge grabbed something off his plate and popped it in her mouth.

Lance dropped his head to the table and let out a groan. He mumbled into his arms, “This is so stupid.”

“Well at least we know who’s causing it, right?”

He continued to talk into his sleeve, “I can’t love Keith.”

“Well the Zinnia petals say otherwise.”

“Zinnia?”

“Yeah, it’s the kind of flower you’ve been leaving all over the castle. It’s actually a variety called Scarlett Flame, which makes a lot of sense given that it’s Keith causing things. You know, a lot of people think Zinnias were the first plant to grow in space, but it was actually lettuce in-”

“Pidge, I don’t want to think about coughing up lettuce.”

“That’s not what I was- whatever. The point is that maybe if you talk to him, you could figure some things out.”

“Do I have to?” Lance whined. “My plan was to just to kind of, not like him anymore.”

“Well I’m not sure how that’ll go, but I would talk to him ASAP if you want to stop all this before you start coughing up more than just petals.”

“What?”

“Yeah, this whole thing gets a lot worse if you don’t solve things soon.”

It got worse.

_A lot worse._

It started with just more petals at a time. It went from one or two, to six or seven. The coughing attacks where lasting longer as he tried to clear his throat of the red petals. They were making it hard to breathe at times. It almost felt like he was trying to cough up full flowers. His whole mouth was full of petals. It was getting harder and harder to hide it.

It was happening more and more frequently too. Lance used to only have to deal with it maybe once a day, in his room, when he thought about it. He kept trying to ignore the feelings, forcing them down. Shoving them in a box and kicking the box to the corner of the room. The problem is that there’s only so many places you can hide boxes in the castle.

Then it started happening every time he talked to Keith, which was its own special kind of torture. Now he can’t even be in the same room as Keith without feeling like he’s going to throw up. Training was nearly impossible, but the worst was in a training exercise where they had to form Voltron.  Him literally combining his mind with Keith’s threw everyone off and forced them to disassemble.

It was so intense, Lance didn’t even get a chance to get out of Blue before he was coughing up full flowers. He could barely breath as his lungs filled and petals stuck to the sides. They were coming up in thick, wet clumps of petals. His throat felt like it was getting ripped apart by thorns.

Pidge’s voice comes from his helmet. He’d just managed to get it off and toss it to the side before he was hunched over in his seat.

“Are you okay? Have you still not talked to Keith?”

Did he leave his channel open to everyone? Did everyone hear him right now? Did they hear Pidge mention Keith? This is not what he needed right now.

“Not exactly.” Lance answered.

“To the being okay, or to the talking to Keith?” she was concerned.

He coughed up another clump of petals. He chuckled, “Both?”

“I’m outside of Blue, can you make it outside?”

Lance forced himself up, despite the pain in his chest. It took some convincing Blue to let him go. He knew she just wanted him to be safe but hiding in his lion wasn’t going to help things. She let him out. He’s met by a very upset Pidge.

“Lance! What’s going on? What was that? That was such an intense feeling, and that was just what I felt. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling. What stage are you at? You must dealing with more than just petals at this point.”

Lance was surprised he wasn’t covered in the red flowers. It would be easier to show her. He opened his mouth to answer but it felt like his chest was on fire. He cleared his throat and pulled a small mass of petals. He held it out for her to see.

“I don’t want to talk about what the inside of Blue looks like right now.” He joked.

“Why haven’t you talked to Keith yet?” Pidge started to examine the petals, trying to avoid touching them.

“We’re having hard enough of a time working together. He’s not going to like me back. Isn’t that just going to make it worse?”

“I’m not really sure how it could get worse, but here’s your chance to find out.” Pidge pointed behind him before jogging off back towards the castle.

“What?” Lance turned and saw Keith storming towards him.

_No. Please. Not right now._

Every step Keith took closer; the more the pain spread, the harder it was to breathe. 

“What was that?” Keith shouted.

“Nothing.” Lance said quickly, his voice cracked halfway through. If he talked fast enough, the less likely petals would find their way out.

Keith started, “I’m pretty sure that was you. You’ve been avoiding me for days. I walk into a room and you leave like I make you sick. I know you hate me, but this is ridiculous. It’s effecting the group now. I don’t know what exactly I did but this has got to stop. What if we’re in the middle of battle? Why are you laughing?”

Lance said between gasps for air, “I don’t hate you.”

Keith crossed his arms, “Really?”

“Really.”

“Then what’s your problem?”

“One second”

On one hand he holds his index finger up. He covered his mouth with his other hand and let lose the cough he’d been holding back. Just his luck, a full flower sat in his hand. The petals stuck together in some places. He was starting to get dehydrated by these things.

He leans on Blue and holds the flower out towards Keith. He almost laughed at the irony. Presenting a flower to the apparent love of his life. The confused look on Keith’s face was appropriate in so many ways.

“What is that?”

“My issue. Pidge says their called Zinnias or something.” Lance had lost all panic. He was almost calm at this point.

“Okay, by why are coughing up flower petals?” Keith’s voice raised as he finished the question.

Nothing he said could mess things up more. He’s already producing full flowers. What could possibly come next? He might as well tell the truth.

“You.”

“What are you talking about?”

Of course he didn’t get it. This was so stupid. Why did he even bother? He started back towards the castle.

“Nevermind.”

“Lance.” Keith grabbed Lance’s arm. His voice was a mix of concern and anger. It was almost scared, “What is going on?”

Lance sighed, “I like you okay? A lot. These flowers are the stupid, painful proof of that. They’re happening because I like you and you don’t like me back. That’s why I’ve been avoiding you. Every time I’m anywhere near you it feels like I can’t breathe and not just because you’re gorgeous; I’m pretty sure my lungs are literally filled with these things.”

He threw the sticky flower in his hand onto the ground.

“Oh.”

“Yeah! And I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would never like me back.” Tears were forming, “I hate this so much. It hurts so bad Keith. It hurts to laugh, it hurts to breathe. My whole chest feels like it’s on fire every time I even think about you. Can you imagine?”

“Lance, I don’t-”

“Don’t. I already know, okay? Saying it will hurt a lot worse.” He wiped the tears from his eyes.

“We can fix this okay? Allura and Coran probably know how to cure it. Did you try the pods?”

“We tried. It didn’t do anything. Pidge mentioned there might be a doctor that would be willing to fix it, being a paladin of Voltron and all. There’s a lot of risks though.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll be fine.”

 Lance skipped dinner. Pidge visited him a few hours later. Through the door, he heard her ask to come in. She said they were planning a mission and they needed him on deck. He ignored her and pulled his blanket over his head. He didn’t want to see anyone right now. He was exhausted.

Later that night, he heard another set of knocking. There was no voice, but he knew it was Keith because seconds before the knocks, he started coughing again. He didn’t answer Keith either. He didn’t care what he wanted to say.

Lance was right, telling Keith made everything worse. Now he had to deal with not only the flowers, but the genuine heartbreak too. There wasn’t much difference in symptoms. It was still mostly in his chest. Difficulty breathing and just feeling like his whole body was weak. The crying was new; stinging his eyes. He tried his best to fall asleep.

* * *

 

Lance didn’t go on the mission. It was more of a meeting than any kind of emergency. Nothing they needed Voltron for. Paired with yesterday’s events, Lance telling the team he wasn’t feeling well was a big sign he should take the day off.  

He actively avoided interaction with his team before they left. He didn’t want to have to explain what was going on. Talking hurt. The best he got was a sympathetic look from Pidge as he went to his room. The worst was an awkward look with Keith when Shiro said Lance wasn’t coming with. Since Allura and Coran went along, Lance’s only company were the mice.

Nothing like being alone in the castle to remember how quiet it could be. How big it was. How easy it would be to get lost in it. How lonely it was. Nothing like being alone in the castle to realize how loud your coughing is.

He was in the kitchen when it started. He was looking for some form of comfort food. Wondering how the team was doing, specifically Keith. All of a sudden, he went weak and his legs gave out from underneath him. It felt like his lungs and heart were being ripped from his chest. Tears formed in his eyes. The worst part was that he didn’t know if it was the flowers or himself.

He sat on the floor for a while. Letting it run its course. Letting the tears run down his face. He felt the pressure in his throat for the first time that day. He coughed into his hand, thankfully it wasn’t as painful as usual.

He looked into his hand to examine the condition of the petals. At first glance, the red color on the petals didn’t even get his attention. It was when he dropped them to the floor and the red had stained his hand, that he started to panic.

_Was this what Pidge meant when she said this was going to get worse? He was coughing up blood. Was this normal? Was he going to keep coughing up blood? What if it gets worse? How could it get worse?_

The castle was so quiet he could’ve heard a pin drop down the hall, so it was easy to hear the cluster of voices that echoed through the halls. They were back from the mission. He had to talk to Pidge about what was going on. She would know more than anyone.

He shakily stood up, using one of the counters as support. He picked up the petals he dropped off of the floor and rinsed his hands off. He left the kitchen to head towards the deck to find Pidge. He got about halfway there before he found her.

“We need to talk.” They both said.

“What?” Lance asked.

“What’s wrong?” Pidge responded.

“You go first.”

“Keith’s hurt.”

“What?” Lance yelled. “It was supposed to be a harmless mission!”

“Yeah, I know, but-”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in the infirmary, but I don’t think seeing him is a good idea for you. We don’t know what it could do to you.”

“Well I’m already coughing up blood. I’m not too sure how much worse it can get.”

“That’s what you said last time and, wait what? You’re coughing up blood now? What happened?”

“I thought about you guys being off on the mission and I fell.”

“Lance.”

The tears were coming back, “Pidge. I need to see him.”

“We don’t know what could happen. It’s not safe for you. We have to keep you away from him until at least one of you is better.”

He hated it when Pidge was right. It usually meant that they were going to be under attack soon. She kept them out of danger, and this was just another case of her keeping him safe. This time it kept him away from the boy he loved, but also the boy that was causing him so much pain.

He let her walk him to his room. She insisted she stay with him, but he asked her to make sure that Keith was okay. The minute she was gone, the coughing returned.

Not only was he coughing up petals and blood, but the intense pain had returned. He couldn’t focus on anything but the feeling of the petals rising through his throat. He couldn’t focus on anything but the headache, the chest pain, the weakness in the rest of his body. It wasn’t long before things got worse.

It started with gagging at the end of coughing fits. It was unpleasant and added to the misery but didn’t mean anything. A few minutes passed, and it escalated past gagging. The petals and flowers flowing from his throat blocking his airways, were now falling apart and being eaten by the stomach acid burning his throat. The filling of his lungs, the heaving, the stinging in his eyes, the aching in his heart; it was a medley of pain worse than anything he’s felt in battle.

Then it was gone. All of it was done. He’d gone times between coughing fits but now he could feel it was over. He took the first deep breath he’d had in a week. The taste of copper was beginning to fade. He didn’t think this hell would ever end but there he was, okay. He could only think of one thing that might have stopped the hell he had been going through.

_Keith loved him back._

All these stupid flowers were about, was one-sided love. He wasn’t literally throwing up petals anymore. This meant it couldn’t possibly be one sided anymore! Keith liked him back. Keith liked, _him_ , back!

Lance couldn’t keep himself from laughing. If someone had told him a week ago that he would be this excited about Keith liking him, he would’ve never believed them. Now he was on the floor of his room, almost in tears because that impulsive, hotheaded, amazing, idiot liked him back.

A knock on his door got his attention. He stood, still a little weak from the earlier events. Clearly it was Keith. That’s how this works in all the movies. He opened the door, excited and a little scared.

“Keith.” Lance started.

It wasn’t Keith. It was Pidge. He couldn’t say he wasn’t disappointed, but he could talk to her about the petals stopping. She would want to know. She’s been pretty concerned about him lately; that’s why she looked concerned right now, right?

“Lance, I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about the Zinnias anymore,” said Pidge.

Lance answered, “Yeah. I know! Isn’t it great!”

“What?”

“No more flowers! They stopped! He likes me back! He likes me back Pidge. I hate how happy that makes me.”

“Lance, slow down. Keith is-”

“Better, right? He’s out of the healing pod? I can go see him?”

“Well, yeah but-”

“Perfect!”

He pushed past her and began, what was close to jogging, down the hall towards the pods. As he made his way through the halls, he couldn’t help but fantasize about them together. How much better they’d be in combat now. Their rooms not being so lonely and bare anymore because they share his. The banter not being out of spite anymore, but instead out of love. They were going to be so much more in tune in Voltron now too.

The future though, was the best part of it. He thought about introducing Keith to his family when they get back to Earth. They would love him. Keith didn’t really have a family, but he would now.

All the dates they would go on. Walks on the beach. Getting pizza on the boardwalk. Movie nights under the blankets. Naps together. Keith wearing his jacket. Dancing around the kitchen. Breakfast in bed. It would all be so great.

By the time Lance got to the infirmary, he was ready. Ready to start his new relationship. Ready to start this new part of his life. Ready to start his life with Keith by his side. It would be the best adventure he’d been on.

Which is why he was so confused when he got there. The whole team was there; which wouldn’t have been that odd on its own, they’ve almost always been there for when someone came out. What was confusing for Lance, was the look they all gave him when he entered. It was the same look Pidge had a few moments ago.

What had been confusing was that when Lance finally saw Keith, he was laying down. Usually people were still awake when they came out of the pods. They were the best naps you’d ever take. So why was Keith asleep. Still in his armor. His, blood soaked, armor. Why was Allura crying?

_Oh._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry. This was only supposed to be 500 words. It took me over. I didn't even like the Hanahaki trope.


End file.
